


The Art of Observation

by twobirdsonesong



Category: CrissColfer - Fandom, Glee RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Beginnings, Developing Relationship, Drabble, Falling In Love, M/M, New York City, POV Third Person, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 10:30:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2064678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twobirdsonesong/pseuds/twobirdsonesong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grant doesn't mean to spy on the neighbors as they fall in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Art of Observation

**Author's Note:**

> Written from Grant's perspective.

He never meant to spy on the neighbors as they fell in love.

Grant generally likes to give his many neighbors their privacy, but the apartment buildings in their Upper East Side neighborhood are pressed closely together and his living room window happens to directly face their apartments across a narrow alley.

He likes to have the window shades open. He works mostly from home and cabin fever sets in quickly if he doesn’t get to look outside often, even if outside means a spare bit of sky and the dirty brick of the buildings across the divide. 

It’s how he first sees the new guy. Even though he doesn’t live in either of those buildings, Grant pretty much knows who lives there – well, at least those who live on his side. A young couple just moved into a place on the 2nd floor of the dark building on the right. They must have gotten married recently or something because Grant has seen them having sex more often than he cares to think about. There’s an older lady on the 4th floor of grey building on the left who has three cats and a fern in the window. She spends a lot of time on the phone and Grant often wonders who she’s talking to.

A serious young man lives on the 5th floor almost directly across from Grant’s living room. Grant doesn’t know his name, but he seems to work from home as often as Grant does. He sees the young man often, pacing the floors and sitting at an old fashioned writing desk, perched behind a laptop with a pair of glasses on his nose. He has a cat too, and more than once Grant is sure he’s seen the fat tabby staring at him from across the alley.

Nothing is ever out of the ordinary in their cramped little world.

One evening, Grant is distracted by the stronger-than-usual smell of pot drifting through his window. He wrinkles his nose and sighs. It’s not an uncommon smell and is doesn’t always bother him, but tonight the light breeze is bringing it right across his face and the sweetly acrid stench has him wrinkling his nose and driving the ability to concentrate from him. Grant pushes his books aside and goes to the window to see if he can tell where it’s coming from.

He really doesn’t mean to spy, but there’s a homeless looking kid sitting on the fire escape of the darker building on the right and that’s generally a cause for a little bit of concern. Especially since Grant doesn’t recognize him.

The sun is setting and the world is growing a little darker, caught in the hazy place where it’s not quite light enough before the street lamps kick on and Grant can’t completely make the stranger out. He’s small though, compact, with a mess of dark hair and Grant can just see the pale smoke spilling from his mouth. Grant sighs. Of course. There’s no point in calling out to tell the kid to knock it off. He’ll be done eventually anyway. Instead, Grant closes his window against the smell and gets back to work.

Two weeks later, Grant sees the guy lounging on the fire escape again. Well, he hears him first. He’s not smoking this time, but he’s got a ukulele and he strumming away like the sound isn’t bouncing all across the closely raised walls. It’s a sweet little tune, but it’s distracting as hell and he’s busy.

Grant is about to call out to him to maybe take it inside for a little while, even though it’s a perfect early autumn evening to sit outside, but something else catches the kid’s attention and the music cuts off.

The serious young man in 5B is leaning out of his own window.

“Do you think you could keep it down?” Grant hears the guy call out and it’s the first time he’s ever heard his neighbor speak.

He can’t hear what the man with the ukulele says in response, but a low rumble of laughter reaches him and another couple of playful notes sound out across the alley. Grant shakes his head and closes the window. He thinks the kid lives in 6A and he’s considering writing him a note to be a little more considerate of his neighbors.

Several weeks later, Grant sees 5B leaning out of his own window, hands braced firmly on the windowsill, to talk to 6A, who’s sitting on the fire escape with his legs dangling and a beer clasped loosely in one hand. Grant closes the window before he hears any of their conversation. Somehow it doesn’t feel appropriate.

At Halloween there’s a messily carved pumpkin on the fire escape, a candle burning lowly inside, and at Thanksgiving Grant sees a piece of construction paper taped up to the window of 6A. Grant can’t be certain, but he’s pretty sure there’s a hand-turkey drawn on the paper. He catches the guy in 5B leaning out of his window to look at it too and Grant doesn’t miss the smile that brightens his face.

Suddenly it’s Christmas and there’s a rope of twinkling lights around 5B’s window, with an extension cord hanging in the air all the way to the next building and disappearing into 6A’s window. Grant wonders how these things even happen.

He doesn’t mean to spy. He really doesn’t. It’s not his fault the buildings stand so close together or that his window happens to directly face both of these other guys’ apartments. It’s the way of living in the city.

He doesn’t see either of them on New Year’s.

Grant forgets that it’s the middle of February until he looks out of his window one snowy morning and sees the hippie-looking kid with the ukulele standing on the fire escape, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand, while the serious young man from 5B stares up at him with wide eyes from the open window. Grant quickly turns away.

The next time Grant see the guy from 6A, it’s through the window into 5B.

He really need to stop spying.


End file.
